Progressivism and the Republican Roosevelt
1901-1912
Chapter 28
1.
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What was progressivism and why did it arise?
middle class urban movement
wished to use the power of the state as an agent of human welfare
“Less a minority movement and more a majority mood”
Arose because the “philosophy of hands-off individualism was out of place in the
modern machine age.”
2.
Early reform writers that kindled the flames of change – State the author and
theme.
Wealth Against Commonwealth – (1894)Henry D. Lloyd – Corruption of
Standard Oil
Theory of the Leisure Class – (1899) – Thorstin Veblen – predatory wealth and
conspicuous consumption of the wealthy
How the Other Half Lives (1890) – disease and filth of NY slums
3.
Muckrakers –Who were they and what did they want? Where they successful?
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Writers for dime magazines such as McClure’s, Cosmo, Collier’s , Everybody’s
They wanted to expose evil in industry as well as sell newspapers.
They were successful in exposing, but not in curing or presenting remedies
4.
State the author and define the themes of the following books/ articles
“The Shame of the Cities” – (1902) Lincoln Steffens / corrupt alliance between
big business and municipal gov’t.
Frenzied Finance – (1905) – Thomas Lawson / the corrupt practices of Wall St.
The Treason of the Senate (1906) – David Phillips/ charged that 75 of 90 US
Senators were beholden to interests
Following the Color Line (1908) – Ray S. Baker / subjugation of blacks – ¼
illiterate
The Bitter Cry of Children (1906) – John Spargo / child labor
5.
Political Reforms – For each reform define it and its purpose and explain on
what level of government if any it was implemented (local,state,federal) –
direct primary elections – have the people elect the party candidates, not party
conventions (state/local) / take party machine away from political insiders
initiative – people present legislation to be voted on (local,state) bypass
B.B/politics connection
referendum – people vote on pieces of legislation (local,state) bypass
B.B/politics connection
recall – elected officials could be voted out of office in the middle of the term if
there was malfeasance or corruption (local/state)
corrupt-practices acts – limit the amount of money candidates could spend on
their campaigns / this would prevent the “buying” of elections (state)
Australian ballot – secret vote on bills / this way businesses wouldn’t know if
their bribery was working (state/local)
Direct Election of Senator – people, not state legislators, elect US Senate
(passed on the fed. level with 17th amendment)
Women’s suffrage – vote for women to bring benefits of maternalism into the
political arena. Change laws on Human interest subjects (sanitation, child labor,
etc.) / 19th amendment in 1920
city-manager system – hire a professional city manager to run the city / no
elected and thus paid off mayor.
6. Identify the reason the following progressive governors were significant:
Robert LaFollette – (Wisc.) took on the RxR and lumber interests and won,
devised a scheme to regulate public utilities
Hiram Johnson – (Calif) broke the Southern Pacific RxR interests in Calif.
politics
Charles Evan Hughes – investigated malpractice by the ins. and gas cos of NY
Women Suffrage
7.
What areas of reform were women most concerned with?
temperance, vote, sweatshops, child labor, factory safety, workmen compensation
8.
Identify these groups, people or court cases –
National Consumers League – pushed for healthier products
Women’s Bureau – part of Dept. of Labor, agency in Fed. gov’t
Florence Kelley – improved factory conditions/ Ill. first chief factory inspector
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union – pushed to ban alcohol and were tight
with the Anti-Saloon League
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire – Sweatshop in NY caught fire. over 100 girls plunged
to their deaths to escape. Only one fire escape and it was pad locked. Need for
safety reform.
Muller v.Oregon (1908) constitutional to mandate special protection for women.
Though later it will close some jobs to females and appear to be chavenistic, it
was the first time the court had intruded into the hiring practices of businesses.
Lochner v. NY (1905) – setback / invalidated a law that set a 10 hour workday
for bakers. / but in 1917 court upheld 10 hour workdays for factory workers.
Teddy Roosevelt – The Square Deal
* Did Teddy Roosevelt make good on his promises of a square deal for all Americans?
9.
Square Deal – What was it?
10.
Labor: Define the following incidences or agencies. Any limits on how far these
reforms went?
Anthracite Coal Strike (1902) – What happened and how did TR
respond? Why was the outcome significant?
- coal companies to cut wages, locked out workers/ TR called them to White
House – owners inflexible – TR threatens to open mines with Federal troops / first
time that Pres. stepped in on side of labor / owners give 10% raise
Department of Commerce and Labor – (1903) – Cabinet level position
Bureau of Corporations – investigate businesses engaged in interstate commerce
11.
Corporations: Define the following acts or concepts concerning the square deal
and control of corporations. Any limits to how far these reforms reached?
Elkins Act (1903) – Heavy fines could now be imposed on RxRs that gave
rebates and shippers that accepted them.
Hepburn Act (1906) – free passes severely restricted./ ICC reach to express
companies, sleeping-care monopolies and pipelines / Given power – could
authorize nullification of existing rates and stipulation of max. rates ** Very
important
Good Trust vs. Bad Trusts – bigness doesn’t mean badness/ good – adhere to
gov’t policy and regulation – bad – do not
Northern Securities Co. (1904) – TR goes after this monopoly owned by J.P
Morgan and Hill in N.W. rxrs. Courts rule – it’s dissolved.
J.P. Morgan’s US Steel and Tenn. Coal Co. deal (1907) – TR gives his blessing
to JP to acquire this company and it actually gets bigger (Taft will go after in
1910)
12.
Consumers: Define the following acts or concepts concerning the square deal and
protection for American consumers. Any limits to how far these reforms reached?
The Jungle – Written by Upton Sinclair – it was a socialist tract that never
materialized as such but hit the stomach of America
Meat Inspection Act (1906) federal inspection of meat shipped over state lines/
helped them with overseas markets/ protected consumers and drove out of
business smaller producers
Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) – prevented the adulteration and mislabeling of
foods and drugs.
13.
Conservation: Define the following acts concerning conserving American
natural resources. Any limits to how far these reforms reached?
* (Carey Act of 1894)- fed. gov’t dist. fed. land to states on the condition that it be
irrigated and settled
Newlands Act of 1902 – revenues from the sale of western land would be put
towards irrigation projects. settlers paid cost of reclamation from taxes on their
products and the money set into a “revolving fund” to pay for more projects.
Expansion of Federal Reserve lands – TR set aside 125 million acres of timber
and coal as well as water resources.
“multiple-use resource management” – combine rec., sustained-yield logging,
watershed protection, and summer stock grazing on same land.
14.
What was the basic cause of the Panic of 1907? Why did business blame
Roosevelt and how did TR respond? What was the result?
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runs on banks, overspeculation in industry was cause
he had upset the apple cart with his growing calls for more protections for
workers, more stringent controls of business, taxing incomes, etc.
Constriction of currency caused need for elasticity and thus the Aldrich-Vreeland
Act
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15.
Currency reform: Define –
Aldrich-Vreeland Act (1908) – allowed national banks to issue emergency
currency backed by various means of collateral (more money in circulation)
* Federal Reserve Act (1913) – created a federal reserve system that would
have much more flexibility in moving gold around the country and issuing fed.
reserve notes.
16.
Assess TR’s legacy –
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“Bark louder than bite” – fought many sham battles to make business more
amenable to regulation. Busted fewer trusts than Taft
He protected capitalism against popular indignation and socialism, b/w
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individualism and paternalistic collectivism
Inc. power and prestige of Pres., shped the progressive movement and the later
liberal reform movements of the 20th century.
Opened eyes of Am. that they had responsibilities internationally
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William H. Taft – Politically Inept
17.
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William Taft - Characterize his personality.
large, moderate believer in the status quo – looked to the Constitution first
18.
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* Who were the insurgents? Old Guard?
radical progressives / status quo and business interest
19.
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Dollar Diplomacy – Define this policy and analyze its effectiveness.
American dollars need to go abroad and be invested in regions and areas before
other countries get there. “Flag will follow investment”
Manchurian RxR scheme – Am. banks prodded to go in and finance the RxRs
that Japan and Russia owned in Manchuria, but it will fall apart, - neither country
would be willing to give up their influence (weakness of policy)
Nicaragua and Haiti – US marines will need to be sent in after investments are
threatened by insurgents.
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20.
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How effective was Taft in the area of breaking trusts and looking out for
the consumer in tariff legislation and Conservation??
broke more trusts than TR, and split with TR over his going after Morgan’s US
Steel after TR had given it his blessing/ (just not as loud as TR)
Payne-Aldrich Tariff –(1909) – supposedly it started as a moderately reductive
tariff and then rates increased as Senators tacked on hundreds of amendments.
Opposite of what Taft had promised in Campaign – He signs and says with foot in
mouth – “This is the best bill that the Republican party ever passed.”
Conservation – Bureau of Mines est. that protected millions of acres of coal lands
and protected water-power sites from private development. but erased with the
Ballinger-Pinchot quarrel – Ball. opened some western lands to development and
Pinchot (TR’s picked conservationist) objected – Taft fired him and TR and
legions attacked him as anti-conservationist – Split in Rep. party wide now.
21.
What two issues drove a wedge between TR (insurgents) Republicans and Taft
(Old Guard) Republicans and led TR to run as the Bull Moose Party candidate in
1912?
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Tariff and Ballinger-Pinchot controversy
discarding of TR’s “my policies” by Taft
22.
New Nationalism – What was it?
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gov’t needs to increase its power to remedy social and economic evils
* big government over Big business